Draft of new Labour Code brings labour regulations closer to EU standards: Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture

In an interview with one of the publications, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine Daria Marchak spoke about the key approaches to updating labour legislation and the main changes proposed by the draft new Labour Code.

"The Ministry has been working on the draft for over two years in consultation with businesses, trade unions and experts. The document aims to establish modern and predictable rules for both employees and employers, reduce legal uncertainty and support the de-shadowing of employment. I would like to emphasise that this is a critically important step in European integration — Ukraine must bring its labour rules closer to EU practices, which Ukrainian companies and citizens are guided by," said Daria Marchak.

According to her, one of the key focuses of the draft is to increase the flexibility of labour relations. The draft Labour Code provides for nine types of employment contracts and the possibility of combining them depending on the needs of the business and the employee (in particular for remote/home-based work, contracts with flexible working hours, apprenticeship contracts and other formats).

The draft also envisages the digitisation of labour processes: essential working conditions must be recorded in a written employment contract, which may be concluded in electronic form.

Among the social guarantees, Daria Marchak noted an increase in the minimum duration of annual paid leave from 24 to 28 days, as well as expanded opportunities for combining work and parenthood, in particular through an approach whereby each parent can use part of their paid leave to care for their child.

The draft also provides for updating approaches to determining the minimum wage, with a calculation formula and the determination of both hourly and monthly rates.

In terms of working arrangements, the draft provides for increased pay for overtime work and the possibility of increasing the annual limit on overtime hours (subject to compliance with guarantees and payment rules).